The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1887-08-19

- - IT.
:And noto let " read the letter.
ancestress upon the potsherd was commune
icated to me by my father on his DEATH
PED, took 9 strong hold up n myimag-
inatton. When I was only nil: .teen years
Of 1 determined-as, to his misfortune,
did n Of our ancestors about the time Of
Elizabeth-to investigate the truth. Into
all that befeu mo I a not enter now.
But this l saw with my own eyes. On the
the coast Of Africa, In . hitherto unexplor-
Cd region, some distance to the north Of
where the Zambesi falls into the sea, there
u o headland, at the extremity Of which
q peak towers up, shaped like the head of q
negro, similar to that of which the writing
speaks: !! landed there, and learned from
2 wandering native, who had been cast out
he had committed, that far inland arc great
mountains, shaped like cups, and caves
surrounded by measureless swamps. I
learned also that the people there speak u
dinlect Of Arabic, and are ruled over by q
beautiful eUhite UOman, who is seldom
seen by them, but who is reported to have
power over all things living and dead.
wv days after I had uscertained this the
man died of fever contracted In crossing
the swamps, and I was forced by wan Of
provisions mt BY symptoms of the illness
which afterward Frustrated ms to take to
my dhow again.
"Of the adventures that befell mo after
this L need not now speak. / was wrecked
upon the coast of Madagascar, and rescued
some months afterward by an English
started for England, intending toprosecute
my search as soon as l had made sufficient
preparations. On my way l stopped In
Greece, and there, for 'OnntG Uincit amor
! met your beloved mother, and married
ner. ana there you were born and she died.
| linen If Vy0S that INV IOcf i11uncc coinn<1 ,,.,
and l returned hither to die. But still [
hoped against hope, and set myself to work
to learn Arabic, with the intention, should
l ever get better, of returning to the coast of
Africa, and solving the mystery of which
i'll our family. But l have not got better,
and, so TAR ;S l am concerned, the story is
at an end.
For you.h however, my son, it is not at
an end, and to you hand on these the re-
itary proofs of its origin. 1t is my inten-
ton to provide that they snail not be put
into our hands until you nave reached I'M
age when you will be able to judge for
yourself, whether or nc you will choose to
investigate what, IL it is true. must be the
greatest mystery i'll the world, or to put it
by us an idle fable. originating in the first
place i'll q wOman'S disurdcred brain.
4 DO not believe that it is II fable; l be-
lieve that, ii it can only be re-liscovered,
there Is Il spot where the vital forces OF the
world visibly exist. Life exists: why, there
fore, should not the means vi preserving it
infinitely exist also? But l have no wish
to prejudice your mind about the matter.
Read and judge for yourself. ii you are
inclined to undertake the search l have so
provided that you will not lack for means
ii, OH the other hand, you are satisfied that
the whole thing is a chimera, then Iadjure
you destroy the potsheri and the writings,
II let q cause of troubling be removed
from race forever. Perhaps that will
be wisest. The unknown is generally tax
en- to be terrible, not, as the proverb would
infer. from the inherent superstition OF
man, but because it is st often terrible. He
who would tamper with the vast and Sc
cret forces that animate the world may
well fall q victim to them. And if the end
were attained, If at last you emerged from
the trial ever beautiful and ever young,
dcfying tim and evil, and lifted above the
aai. .al decay of flesh and intellect, who
ssiall say that the awesome change would
prove a happy one? Choose, my son, and
may the Power who rules all things, and
who says, Thus far shalt thou 60, aud thus
much shalt thou learn direct your choice
to your own happiness and the happiness
OF the world, Which, in the event of your
success, you would one day certainly rule
by the pure force of accumulated eXperi-
ence. FAREWELL"
Thus b letter, which was unsigned and
undated '.uptly
"What do you make of that, Uncle Hoa-
ly?" said Leo, with a sort of gasp, as he re-
placed it ON tho table. 1--WE have been
looking for q mystery, and we certainly
seem to have found onc."
"What do I make of yeti Why, that
your poor dear father was of his head, Of
course" 1 answered, testify. 81 guessed
as much that night, twenty years ago, when
he came into my room. You see, he evil
IDENTIFY hurried his own end, poor man. II
Is absolute b%alderdash."
"That's It, sir" said Job. solemnly. Job
Wa q most matterof-fact specimen Of Q
matter-of-fact class.
"Well, let's see what the potsherd has to
gay. at any rate" said Leo, taking up the
translation in his fathers writing, and
commencing to read:
81, Amenartas, Of the Royal House Of
Hakor, 9 Pharaoh Of Egypt, wife Of KALI
krates lthe Strong and Beautiful, OF the
Beautiful 81. in strepn a a Priest lest Of Isis.
obey, being about to die, to my little son
Tisfsthenes (the Mighty Avenger). I fed
with thy father from Egypt in the days Of
Nekht-nebf, Mectanebes or Nectanebo H.,
the last native Pharaoh Of Egypt, fed from
t %ch pi,t to ,b EsnloRia, 10 D; 9. s. ssgSim ed t%a e s,a.s.
AAA9 AAAA ~ A0vO w OI0 NOWU
that he had vowed. We fed southwark
across the waters, and No wandered fol
twice twelve moons on the coast Of Ldbya
Afrtce) that looks toward the rising sun,
where BY 9 river 70 z great rock carven
on tho water from the mouth Of q mighty
river were we cast away, and some were
drowned and some died Of sickness. But
US wild men took through wastes and
marshes, where the searfowl hid the sky,
bearing us ten days journey, till we came
to 9 hollow mountain, where q great city
had been and fallen, and where there ara
caves OF which no man hath seen the end;
and they brought MS to the queen Of the
people who place pots upon the heads Of
strangers, who. is . magician having
knowledk Of all things, and life and love.
Nness that does not die. And she cast eyea
of love upon thy father, K~allikrates, and
would have slain mi, and taken him ia
husband, but he loved me and feared her,
md would nat Then did she take us, and
lead us by terrible ways, by means of dark
magic, to where the great pit is, in the
mouth Of which the old philosopher lay
dead, and showed to Us the rolling Pillai
Of Life that dies not, whereof tho voice Is
as the v0ica OF thunder, and did stand in
the flames, and come forth unframed. and
yet moro beautiful. Then did she swear
to make thy father undying, even as she
e., if he would but slay me and give him.
self to her, for me she could not slay be
cause Of the magic OF my own people thai
have aud that prevailed thus Tar against
her. And he held his hand before hiS eye
to hide her beauty, and would not. Then
n. her Iage did she unite him BY her magic